Role of Media in the Arab Revolutions - Research Paper Example

? Media have played a vital role and have employed as a resource to support Arab revolution. Introduction The Arab Spring revolutions of last year have fostered a debate upon the role of media and networking as a tool of political mobilization that can facilitate a regime change and pro-democracy movements. It is being argued that social media have ignited a fire that has been experienced by the Arab world and now has entered the politics of Tunisia and Egypt. The rise of independent and vibrant social media has witnessed a profound change across the regions – from Morocco to Bahrain. The rise in the frequency of use of social media seeks to make governments accountable for their intentions and actions. It is worth noticing here that a single factor cannot lead to a revolution; actually, it is the combination of several factors and issues that paved the way for a great revolution. The social-economic factors and political factors were depressing, and that paved the way for the Arab revolution. Despite several limitations and censorship imposed on media, it has been observed that their roles have been the most crucial in the success of Arab revolution (Seib, 2012). Some of the scholars, experts and journalists have termed social media as an ‘undeniable force’ for attaining a valuable outcome. In order to assess the validity of their perception, a thesis statement has been developed in this paper. The statement can be observed as “Media have played a vital role in, and have been employed as a resource to support, Arab revolution”. It aims at identifying and analyzing the impact of media on the revolutions in Arab world. The role of internet and social media has been emphasized by Wael Ghonim, Egyptian Google executive: “If you want to liberate a society, just give them the Internet”( Storck, 2011, p.4). From the perspective of media, it has enabled a virtual community that provides a platform to exchange, share, and communicate with the people around the world, irrespective of their social class and economic standards. Media and their influence on the Arab Region The use of media, especially the social media, has changed the dynamics of the protests and revolutions. The speed of, and access to, digital media can be termed as its unique characteristics, as it provides a platform to share and exchange personal views irrespective of the social-economic status of the users. The major differences with respect to traditional media can be identified and analyzed in terms of interactivity and speed of the news. The traditional media include the use of leaflets, posters, and faxes to mobilize the people, whereas the use of digital media has enabled an audio-video interaction with the people around the world (Rugh, 2004). There is a profound role of media in influencing the revolution, especially in Arab countries such as Egypt and Tunisia. The protests in Egypt and Tunisia would not have been greatly successful in the absence of social media like facebook, twitter, and other sites. It was different media that kept provoking people and helped them to come together to bring about such revolution. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter were used intensively by people to disseminate information globally, and, apart from this, these social networking sites were used as a tool for fostering people within and outside Egypt for a great revolution (Ghannam, 2011). Social media and theory of communication “Networks constitute the new social morphology of our societies and the diffusion of networking logic substantially modifies the operation and outcomes in processes of production, experience, power and culture”( Fox, Mourtada-Sabbah, and Al-Mutawa 2006, pp. 155). When the above mentioned arguments are evaluated from the perspective of social media theories, it is found that “resource mobilization” theory is one of the most important theories of social movements. It came into existence in 1970s. According to this theory, resources such as money, time, organizational skills, political and social opportunities are important to accomplish a movement’s goals. This theory is slightly different from collective behavior theory, which considered social movements as abnormal and illogical. Resource mobilization theory is based on the belief that people are rational, evaluate the costs and benefits of movement involvement, and only take steps when outcome exceeds costs involved. This theory suggests that effective resources are prerequisite for bringing social change, because disagreement and criticism are not sufficient to bring change in society (Eltantaw & Wiest, 2011). This theory has been criticized by few people stating it does not take social movement communities into consideration. Social communities are large associations of individuals and other groups. This theory also attracts criticism as regards its statement that a group with limited resources can be successful in bringing social change and because it overlooks many macro-sociological issues. Egypt Revolution: Origin and nature There are many factors which contributed to this great protest, which was lasting for 18 days in Egypt. Some of the most important factors were social and political unrest due to police brutality, high rate of corruption, high unemployment, state of emergency laws, political scam, and so on. Apart from these factors, social media can be considered as one of the most critical factors in bringing about this revolution. People of Egypt had been suffering to a great extent under the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. They were restricted from expressing their views freely; they were prevented from general political participation and protest opportunities. These things were slowly intensifying the public frustration against Mubarak’s government (Eltantawy & Wiest, 2011). Among various protestors, Mohamed ElBaradei was the first who opposed the Mubarak’s regime and called for social reforms. He had worked as a chief of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency and was a winner of Nobel Peace Prize. He constantly criticized the dictatorship and became a major enemy of the government. In addition to economical and political unrest, a major aspect that accelerated the public frustration that ultimately led to successful revolution was atrocious death of Khaled Said in June 2010. He was a young man from Alexandria and was brutally killed by two police officers, and news of his death was disseminated hugely through various internet websites and intensified the public outrage to a large extent. Other than above factors, geographic aspects, like closeness to Tunisia and Tahrir Square, which is located in the heart of Cairo, were major contributors to the successful protest of January 25. Tunisian revolution, which started on Dec 17, 2010 and finished on January 15, 2011, with the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, had a very significant contribution to the massive protest against Egyptian government. Large space of Tahrir Square and its closeness to metro station that is connected to many districts was also a reason behind such a huge gathering of people and successful revolution (Eltantawy & Wiest, 2011). Activists like ElBaradei and Omar Afifi were mostly ahead of other activists who utilized the social media to convey their messages to the followers and inspire them to protest against the Mubarak’s regime. There were many YouTube videos which were released by Omar suggesting the best way to protest and bring social reforms. He disseminated his messages through Facebook, Twitter, and other media, directing the ways to peaceful protest. It is through social media that he could convey his messages to millions of people within and outside Egypt. People of Egypt were exchanging and disseminating the information during movements in Tunisia and preparing themselves as well for such movements. During the revolution in Tunisia, people from Egypt supported them through messages, chatting, and videos and they were watching each movement carefully. There is a very close association of social media with the revolt which took place in Arabian Countries such as Egypt and Tunisia. People of these countries were fostered to raise their voice against the dictatorship by many activists through facebook, twitter, and other sites. People had been exchanging their views and planning for such revolution for past few years through such social media. At the time of revolution in Egypt, social media had a pivotal role in disseminating the minute by minute information to the rest of the world and making the revolution most successful (Crouch, 2012). Tunisian revolution: Its origin and nature In the year 2010, a young street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire as a sign of protest against corruption. He filed his complaint from the police to the regional governor but was unable to get justice. On January 04, 2012, he died in a hospital, and this sparked a wave of protest and anti-government sentiments. It is worth noticing here that the state run media ignored the news but could not prevent a national wide protest. During the second half of December 2011, the country experienced new sparks thorough blogs and text messages that could be termed as ‘cognitive liberation in’ the words of Doug, a sociologist (Hanley, 2011). This realization had a profound impact on the life and behavior of people, and their grievances were intensified with the help of social media. The news of abusive states were being watched by the people on YouTube, online coverage of corruption in this country has been read by the people and the citizens of this country; they were exchanging jokes and cartoons of the dictators. The use of digital media in this way was beyond the control of the government, and it allowed the people to arrive at strategies of action and of reaching a collective goal (Hanley, 2011). Over the years, the anger and protest against the political corruption has come to blogosphere. The journals and news of corruption were being investigated and examined by the average citizens using the internet in a creative way. One of the most famous video was being watched on YouTube by many of the citizens. It showed the Tunisia’s presidential jet on runways near exclusive shopping destination, the video was also carrying the information regarding the data, time, and place and questioned who was using this jet (the suggestion was made that it was used by the wife of Ben Ali). The bloggers and activists kept making their efforts and pushed on, creating virtual spaces for anonymous discussion on key political issues, producing new ways for online newscasts, all these efforts being focused on commiserating fellow citizens about the persecution of state. After the death of Bouazizi, the protest and anger against government came to public space from virtual space. The government tried to ban social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and video sites like YouTube and DailyMotion. Within a few days of this attempt, people found a new way to communicate and organize their activities with the help of SMS networks (Tobin, 2012). This move added strength to the anti-government sentiments, as only about 20% of the people had access to social media but almost everyone had access to a cell phone. On January 13, the president tried to extinguish the fire and promised a series of progressive and positive measures. He declared that he would not run in the re-election of 2014 and even promised an early election. In addition to this, the president was also ready to investigate the death of 80 protesters and showed his agreement to release the prisoners. His promises and declaration could not bring any changes, and the demonstration continued. The next day, he ordered to impose emergency, dissolved the government, and closed the services like airlines, newspapers, schools, and universities. The president ordered his army to shoot the protesters, but, unlike his police, the army refused. The refusal of the army and the mounting pressure on the government forced him to leave Tunisia on 14th January 2012. Digital media and political consequences The demise of both the regimes in Tunisia and Egypt has surprised many of the people around the world not because of their outcomes but due to the duration of time these revolution needed to dismantle the complete structure of dictatorships. In Tunisia, it took 28 days, whereas in Egypt the duration of revolution was about two weeks (18 days). In Tunisia, Ben Ali had ruled for around a quarter of century; on the other hand, in Egypt, Mubarak had been a dictator for near about three decades. The ripple effects of these revolutions could be seen on the other parts of the world as well, and in order to avoid any significant damage, the governments of other states respondents proactively (Howard & Hussain, 2011). The rulers of Algeria lifted the state of emergency that was imposed almost two decades back. The sultan of Oman has decentralized power, so the elected legislature received the right to pass the laws and make amendments. In Sudan, the president, who was an accused of war crimes, promised not to seek reelection. Furthermore, all the oil states began using their resources for the welfare of general public. The Contribution of Social Media to the Arab Revolution There is a unanimous view that social media have a very significant contribution to Egyptian revolution. It was the internet and other social media that disseminated the information within and outside the Egypt, and that resulted in gathering of millions of people to protest against dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak and bring social reforms. There were many prominent people who had significant access to social media and used this as a tool to spread the awareness among people across the world and bring about this revolution. These individual activists disseminated their words through facebook, twitter, etc. They made a platform for supporters and followers to share the information related to current conditions of Egypt (Charlton, 2011). After the revolution in Egypt, there is no doubt that social media are not merely a source of entertainment but also a powerful tool for demonstration. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter had a huge role in organizing a powerful protest against Egyptian government that ultimately led to the end of Hosni Mubarak’s regime. People of Egypt were fed up with police brutality, state of emergency laws, and other political frauds, and these issues were disseminated through different social networking sites, which resulted in huge gatherings of protesters in Cairo, Alexandria, and different places of Egypt. Wael Ghonim, an executive of Google who became an activist, kept on inspiring people for protests through Facebook (Parsons & Oja, 2012). Conclusion The stories and outcomes of these revolutions can be told from a number of perspectives, but the best ways have been identified with the help of social media and the use of mobile phones. There are some clear evidences that can be observed from the above investigation regarding impact of media on Arab revolutions; the first among them can be identified as formulation of an infrastructure that fostered adequate and necessary requirements for collective action. The second characteristics can be recognized as creation of awareness regarding key issues. In this regard, the role played by media has a profound impact on local community as well as on international community. Media brought many critical issues and key activities in limelight that might have been otherwise shielded from public view, resulting into isolation of participants. The strength of social media allowed everyone to reach the goals which were once perceived as unachievable. It would still be premature to conclude that the rise in the intensity of the use of social media has caused these revolutions, as in Arab World the digital media have appeared quite recently. It is needless to say that mere blogging and messaging cannot bring an immediate political change; however, the fact that media became a change agent in these revolutions cannot be discarded. It is worth noticing here that the people were suffering atrocities for a long time, but the individual’s reaction was not adequate to topple down the dictators. The digital media combined the actions and intentions of each individual, helped appear a stronger and collective voice, and unified the efforts of people for a common reason. It can be concluded that although there were various reasons for the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, the credit for combining these reasons and making them an outcome-oriented force can be given to media. . References Charlton, J. (2011). Tweeting a revolution. Information today, 28(6). Crouch, D. (2012). Arab media make most of citizen journalism. Business and Economics. Eltantawy, N., & Wiest, J. B. (2011). Social Media in the Egyptian Revolution: Reconsidering resource mobilization theory. International Journal of Communication, 1207-1224. Ghannam, J. (2011). Social Media in the Arab World: Leading up to the uprisings of 2011. 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